3 Principles That My Experiences In School Helped Me Develop

Where have you had your best memories with zero regrets? or where have you had the best days of your life? For me that was in school-The Bishop’s School,Camp. My school life had ups and downs, through which I developed principles that I practice even today.

Setting An Intention Sows The Seed For It To Manifest

8th Standard was my favourite year in school- the bonds with the classmates and an incredible class teacher. In the last week of classes, I took my camera to school to capture the memories and the incredible bonds we had. Although we clicked hundreds of photos throughout the day, I wanted to get a class photo, and one of my friends took the camera from me as he wanted to take it. I showed him how to turn off the flash, but this over enthusiastic guy did what every backbencher does- “ignored instructions” and clicked a photo with a bright flash across the class while the teacher was teaching and obviously got caught.

Our class teacher asked for the camera, and I took it from my friend, and sneakily removed the memory card. After somehow managing to remove the memory card while giving it to the teacher, I blamed the ownership of the camera on my friend who disagreed and told the teacher that it belonged to me. Our class teacher got furious and called our physical education teacher to check if there were photos. To test the camera he clicked a photo and unknowingly captured the class photo, I so desperately wanted and added it to my loving memories.

This made me realise that the universe has its own way of giving us what we truly want if we try to work towards it. After this incident, I have always believed that keep your intentions straight and it will happen.

“Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho … to puri kainaat usse tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai” -Shahrukh Khan

Giving Your Best Matters More Than Winning

Our school annually hosted the EcoFriends Paper Bag Making Competitions. These paper bags were going to be distributed around the city. My class teacher had announced that whoever makes the most paper bags will get a reward. My class teacher specifically came up to me and said that this is an opportunity for me to excel because I was not really interested in excelling in academics. Her individually taking time and sharing with me that I can excel at something, really excited me to give the Paper Bag Making Competition a shot.

When I reached home, I searched for the easiest ways of making paper bags on YouTube, and I showed it to my mother and brother. I shared with them how I really wanted to participate, and looking at my excitement they agreed to help. And then we began making paper bags, and stopped only after we made the most we could in four hours. We ended up making 120 paper bags and on the next day I went to school with great confidence. After reaching the school I got to know that one of the students had made 200 paper bags. When I submitted my bags, my class teacher told me that I did my best and this was “VERY-GOOD!!!” Neither did these lines make me feel demoralised nor did they make me feel happy. However, they did spark a sense of “PRIDE” within me because not many had told me that “you have given your best at something” except for my mom.

This incident made me realise that every race is not about winning or losing. Some are just so you can cheer yourself up…..

“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory” –Mahatma Gandhi

Accepting Your Mistake Takes You A Long Way

When I was in 8th standard, I was punished by one of my teachers for disturbing the class, and was made to stand outside. Standing outside was actually fun for me as I did not have to sit in class. My class was located right opposite to my school canteen, and I could smell that they were making vada pav. I was very hungry as I had not had breakfast and tempted to eat the vada pav.

Then I went to the canteen and used a teacher’s name to get vada pav as it was not break time yet. I bought four vada pav and started eating them outside my class. When my class teacher came outside to check on me, she caught me eating vada pav red handed. Seeing this, she started walking me towards the Headmaster’s office, as I focused on finishing the vada pav (I set a record by eating that vada pav in one bite). Our teacher told the Headmaster what had happened, and the Headmaster called for the canteen manager who said that I took the vada pav for the teacher. Unfortunately the same teacher joined the conversation at that moment and was furious. The Headmaster asked me if this was true, and I accepted that I lied (thinking that he was going to beat me). Surprisingly, he made me take a seat, tried to understand why I lied and explained why what I had done was wrong.

This hit me like a bomb and I realized how admitting my truth not only saved me from further punishment, but also uplifted me in my own way- I felt happy and was proud of myself. That day I learned about the power of asking for forgiveness and the magic of forgiving- the way in which the Headmaster handled the situation, increased my respect towards him.

“You are likely to keep repeating the same mistake all over again if you do not agree it’s a mistake” -Israelmore AyivorSo these were some of the principles that I developed from school life experiences, that sowed seeds for how I live my life now. Now that I am a part of The Enterprise India Fellowship, these values keep pushing me to give my best for any project that I am a part of, even in my deepest lows. Setting intentions, giving my best and accepting my mistakes has helped me stay positive and constantly work on self-improvement.